The Internationals got themselves back into the 2024 Presidents Cup on Friday with a stunning 5-0 sweep to tie the score at 5-5 after two days - but a bold call from captain Mike Weir may have ended up hurting his side on Saturday.
The Internationals lost Saturday's two sessions 6-2 to trail 11-7 heading into the Sunday singles, and the Canadian's decision to play the exact same pairings for both sessions on day three ultimately returned them just two points.
It was the first time a Presidents Cup captain has gone with the exact same pairings for both sessions on day three, meaning that just eight of the 12 Internationals got a game on Saturday and all eight of them had to play 36 holes.
Jim Furyk played 11 of his 12 players on Saturday, with just five of his team playing 36 holes and only Sahith Theegala sitting out all day.
The afternoon foursomes was looking in the Internationals' favor early and mid-way through the back nine but the fatigue was clear to see as they started to make errors to let the US back in.
Matsuyama and Im lost their last three holes to go down 3&2 to Scheffler and Henley, Conners and Hughes bogeyed 18 to lose to Morikawa and Burns while Si Woo and Tom Kim lost the 18th to lose to Cantlay and Schauffele 1-down.
Taylor Pendrith hit some loose shots coming down the stretch, too, but he and Adam Scott were able to get the Internationals' only win in the afternoon.
"It was a little closer than I think we wanted coming down the stretch, and I hit some shaky shots, but we got the point, so that's all that matters" he said.
Min Woo Lee, Ben An, Jason Day and Christiaan Bezuidenhout all sat out the entire day, and the stranger aspect is that An, Day and Bezuidenhout all won their matches on Friday. Those three were the Internationals' weakest players on day two, however, in terms of strokes gained so that may well be why Weir chose to sit them.
It means that four Internationals are rested, and perhaps even lacking sharpness, heading into the singles, with Min Woo Lee having only played one session - and that was back on Thursday.
"Nothing's up health-wise with Jason. We went 5-0 yesterday and had a lot of momentum," Weir explained when questioned on his decision.
"We talked it through, and that was it. We had a plan. We had a plan for some other things too. That's why we meet and go through these things. But nothing health related that left any of the other guys out.
"We got pretty late into the evening making decisions, which we do in these team things. The captains kind of sometimes go late. So we let the guys sleep in a little bit.
"Most of the guys knew. There was a couple of guys that didn't know until they woke up, but they were going to be on the later bus, not the morning session.
"There was maybe some discussion for the afternoon. But they were let know pretty early in the day that that's the way it was going to go.
"Hats off to the US guys. They played great down the stretch. They holed some key putts. They played the 18th hole really well when those matches have been close, and that's why they have the lead right now on some of those pivotal holes."
The Internationals will look to turn around the 11-7 deficit on Sunday, with the first tee time at 12.02pm local time.
Presidents Cup Sunday Pairings
- 12.02pm: Xander Schauffele vs Jason Day
- 12.14pm: Sam Burns vs Tom Kim
- 12.26pm: Scottie Scheffler vs Hideki Matsuyama
- 12.38pm: Russell Henley vs Sungjae Im
- 12.50pm: Patrick Cantlay vs Taylor Pendrith
- 1.02pm: Keegan Bradley vs Si Woo Kim
- 1.19pm: Tony Finau vs Corey Conners
- 1.31pm: Wyndham Clark vs Min Woo Lee
- 1.43pm: Sahith Theegala vs Byeong Hun An
- 1.55pm: Collin Morikawa vs Adam Scott
- 2.07pm: Brian Harman vs Christiaan Bezuidenhourt
- 2.19pm: Max Homa vs Mackenzie Hughes
